More to come for cryptocurrency futures contracts, says CBOE CEO

Following the successful launch of their bitcoin futures contract, CBOE executive Ed Tilly, recently hinted that the platform could soon introduce additional cryptocurrency-related services and products.
One of America’s leading exchange platforms, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), launched their bitcoin futures contract last weekend. Following their successful launch, the CBOE head exchange operator hinted that the platform will be introducing many more cryptocurrency-related products.

In an interview earlier this week, the CBOE CEO, Ed Tilly, stated that the launch of bitcoin futures will go a long way towards making cryptocurrency more accepted and welcomed among US regulators and Wall Street skeptics. According to the Mail Online, Tilly noted that linking products and securities is just the beginning of the cryptocurrency industry for CBOE. He expressed his enthusiasm for the rapidly developing market and hinted that CBOE intends to use its bitcoin futures contracts as a learning curve to develop more products.

While the launch itself was smoothly operated, bitcoin’s intense volatility triggered the platform’s price circuit breakers after the price rapidly climbed 20%. The circuit breakers halted activity for a five-minute period. In addition, the CBOE website experienced a short-lived shutdown caused by the immense traffic influx. Shortly after the launch, the traffic increased by an amount equal to six times that of the website’s average weekday traffic. Despite these minor hiccups, Tilly seems pleased with the launch and maintains that everything happened right on schedule. Tilly believes that the Futures Industry Association (FIA) open letter was completely unnecessary. In the letter, the FIA stated several grievances and concerns regarding CBOE’s launch.

According to Tilly, the launch of bitcoin futures contracts has so far been the most successful of any other product launch on the platform. The launch was an exciting time for his firm and his team is definitely looking forward to other possible cryptocurrency-based launches.

The firm’s intended launch was approved last week by the US Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which makes CBOE the very first US exchange to offer its clients bitcoin futures contracts. CBOE narrowly beat their competitor, CME Group, to the finish line as they are set for launch on December 18th.

On the first day of trading alone, CBOE facilitated nearly 3,700 trading contracts, which included contracts from over 20 different firms. Tilly was pleased with the activity and noted that every firm who expressed interest in the product, followed through and participated the moment bitcoin futures contracts launched.

However, CBOE’s futures contracts currently tracks its trading prices using the Gemini exchange. This will expire in January. At the moment, CBOE is waiting to finalize settlements on its one-month contract before they introduce more cryptocurrency products on their platform. Experts, individuals, and crypto advocates have all expressed their enthusiasm as this move signifies that bitcoin is gradually entering the mainstream financial landscape.